In this episode of History Speaks, Tazeen M. Ali speaks with Edward E. Curtis IV about his recent book, Muslims of the Heartland: How Syrian Immigrants Made a Home in the American Midwest (NYU Press, 2022). They discuss the often-forgotten history of early Arab Muslim migration to the United States, the racialization of Islam, and mythmaking narratives that paint the American Midwest as homogenously white. They also discuss Curtis' wide-ranging scholarship on Islam in America, as well as his book and documentary, Arab Indianapolis.  Tazeen M. Ali is a scholar of Islam and gender in the United States and assistant professor at the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University in St. Louis. She is the author of The Women’s Mosque of America: Authority & Community in US Islam (New York University Press 2022). Edward E Curtis IV is a publicly-engaged scholar of Muslim American, African American, and Arab American history and life. He is the William M. and Gail M. Plater Chai...